G©ơlen

the long version

The "Hizmet" Movement of Fethullah Gülen is Turkey's most influential Islamic identity community. Widely praised throughout the early 2000s as a mild and moderate variation of Muslim-identified social movements, the Gülen Movement has become more controversial as it spreads across the world. In Gülen, Joshua D. Hendrick argues that, given its political and economic impact, the Gülen Movement should be given credit for playing a significant role in Turkey's rise to global prominence. M. Fethullah Gülen, the movement's founder, moved to the United States in 1998. Following their leader across the Atlantic, loyalists in the Gülen' network have expanded their operations in the U.S., where they are now active in intercultural outreach, commerce, political lobbying, and education. Drawing on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey and the U.S., Hendrick examines the Gülen Movement's role in Turkey's recent rise, as well as its strategic relationship with Turkey's Justice and Development Party-led government. He argues that the movement's growth and impact both inside and outside Turkey are indicative of a "post political" turn in twenty-first century Islamic political identity in general, and illustrative of Turkey's political, economic, and cultural transformation in particular.